Debi Fowler has been named the new statewide director for the Alaska Small Business Development Center (SBDC). Fowler, who has served as the Center's interim director since September 2010, will begin her permanent position post immediately. "Debi's interim leadership of SBDC has been excellent," said Elisha "Bear" Baker, dean of UAA's College of Business and Public Policy (CBPP), the College in which the Center is housed. "We are confident she will continue to provide first-rate management for the Alaska SBDC."

Debi has been at UAA since 2007 when she was hired to serve as the Alaska SBDC's South Central director and later as associate state director. In that position Debi was responsible for operational management of the statewide program, including employee development planning, strategic planning and helping establish annual SBA goals for year-end reporting with business investments, client counseling hours and business start-ups. Prior to coming to UAA, Debi owned a local business consulting company assisting small businesses with federal and state certifications for government contracting. She also led the Alaska 8(a) Association and was project administrator for Transformations.

The Alaska SBDC, is located in Anchorage, but serves the entire state with offices in Anchorage, Bethel, Juneau, Ketchikan, Soldotna and Wasilla. Charged with offering free consulting services and low cost educational programs to entrepreneurs looking to start or grow their small business, the Center is funded, in part, by the U.S. Small Business Administration, as well as matching funds from the state of Alaska, and contributions from partner boroughs, cities and other sponsors throughout the state. One of the most recognizable efforts of the Alaska SBDC is the BuyAlaska program that encourages in-state purchases of goods and service. For additional information about Alaska's SBDC, please visit its website.

Professor Alpana Desai's Database Management Systems (CIS 330) class provides the backdrop for KTUU back-to-school feature

Hensley's focus during the 2011-12 academic year will be designing new curriculum centered on Alaska Native business and corporation management

ANCHORAGE, AK – Elisha "Bear" Baker, dean of the University of Alaska Anchorage College of Business and Public Policy (CBPP), announced today that Willie Hensley has accepted the position of "Visiting Distinguished Professor of Business and Public Policy" in CBPP.

Hensley, one of the most recognized leaders in Alaska, will work with CBPP throughout the 2011-12 academic year. His primary focus will be to design new curriculum centered on Alaska Native business and corporation management, and to develop cases that address Native business law and policy issues. He will also teach AK Policy Frontiers (PADM 671) in CBPP's Department of Public Administration.

In addition, Hensley will work with the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) and key university leaders to identify and develop new research opportunities. He will present one public lecture during the academic year, to be announced at a later date.

Hensley was instrumental in the framing of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 and has provided leadership in both the public and private sectors in numerous organizations including the Alaska Legislature, the Alaska Federation of Natives and First Alaskans Institute. In recent years, he has mentored other indigenous peoples throughout the world.

"CBPP is fortunate to have Hensley join the distinguished team of scholars already in the college," said Dean Baker. "CBPP is committed to developing and delivering business and public policy courses and programs focused on Alaska Native organizations and business. Hensley's assistance with sharpening the focus of CBPP offerings, collaborating on developing teaching cases, facilitating communications and exchange with Alaska Native communities, and mentoring students and faculty will have a significant impact on business education for Alaska."

For more information, please contact Jessica D. Hamlin • Office of University Relations • (907) 786-1288.

The UAA College of Business and Public Policy’s Center for Economic Education hosted its second annual 2011 High School Workshop in Experimental Economics May 23-26 on UAA’s campus. Twenty-six Anchorage-area high school students got a hands-on introduction to modern economics during this four-day workshop.

The workshop exposes young people to traditional economics using modern methods. Economic experiments allow students to interact in simulated market environments. “The workshop is great for kids who have never seen economics before and for students with a lot of experience with the topic,” said Kyle Hampton, director of the Center for Economic Education. “Even the stuff that is old hat is approached in a unique way.”

For example, in one experiment, students played the role of buyers and sellers of a good or product. Students are paid cash at the end of the experiment contingent on the decisions they make when trading.

“This allows students to see a lot of that dusty economic theory from the inside,” said Hampton. “And have a lot of fun doing it in the process.”

Experiments cover a wide swath of economic topics, including a lot of what people don't think of as economics: trust, reciprocity, revenge, cooperation and altruism.

“Learning economics won't necessarily make you rich, but it will allow you to live a richer life,” Hampton said. “Economics helps people to see the ways human events are connected and illuminates current events and human history. Once you have seen the world through the lens of economics, you can no longer see it any other way.”

Students are recruited from high school social studies courses in the Anchorage School District. They apply to participate in the workshop online and are chosen competitively.  Simliar workshops have taken place at the University of Arizona, George Mason University, Chapman University in Orange, California, and now UAA.

For more information, please contact Kyle Hampton, (907) 786-1901.